


At the Bottom

by Sheepaleepz



Category: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda) - Fandom
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Horror, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Redeads (Legend of Zelda), Suspense, but like im trying to write suspense, gee I wonder why, kinda sorta, wind and time hate redeads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27439051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheepaleepz/pseuds/Sheepaleepz
Summary: Something immediately feels wrong. A harsh chill runs down their spines.There’s a low, horrible, groaning.It bounces off the walls, filling the heroes’ sensitive ears. Time tenses up even further.“What’s that noise?” Sky asks, quietly. Time shushes him immediately. Four pushes past the group and explores with Wild, not seeing Time desperately trying to coax them back.A scream shatters the darkness.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 134





	At the Bottom

**Author's Note:**

> Thank u so much to ontoxay for beta reading this!!! They're always a huge help haha go check 'em out.

Cold.

Instead of a light breeze, or warmth from the afternoon sun, or even the tranquility of a forest, it’s cold. Cold, damp, and disgusting. The portals have never taken them to a place like this before. 

The heroes all rise to their feet one by one, untangling from one another and dusting themselves off. As they take in their surroundings, they realize it’s dark. They can’t even see the person in front of them. The air is muggy and thick. The floor is lined with an inch of water; a faint dripping echoes around them. 

“Ugh, my tunic’s all wet. Who fell on me?” someone groans, everyone immediately recognizing it as Legend. His tone is indignant as ever. 

“Sorry,” Sky replies, “I can’t see a thing, where are we?”

“It’s so dark,” says Wind, waving his arms around, hitting one of his fellow heroes in the arm in the process. 

“Stay calm.” Twilight’s voice cuts through the dark like a knife. “Does anyone have a torch?”

“I think so,” says Wild. He taps the Sheikah Slate, the blue glow barely illuminating the corridor. The light reveals dilapidated brick walls, cracked and mossy. Wild materializes a torch from his slate, then a flameblade. He lights the torch and sheaths the sword. 

The warm glow reveals more of the hallway—endless worn walls, rotting stone.

Unnerved, Wild steps forward to nudge Time, who is staring into the inky abyss that awaits them. His face is vacant and pale, lips pressed into a tight line. At Wild’s nudge, he startles back into life. With a look and a nod to the others, he starts walking.

Reluctantly, the others follow.

Nobody dares to make a sound. The dripping is drowned out by the footsteps of the heroes, boots lightly splashing the water beneath them. Wind glances to Warriors, his hand firmly gripping the hilt of his sword. He decides to do the same.

“A-any idea of where we are?” Hyrule pipes up. Time looks back sharply, the light of the torch illuminates his face, highlighting the desperation in his eye. Hyrule covers his mouth, tearing his eyes away from the old man’s gaze. 

Nobody answers him.

They come to a fork in the hall. Time inspects each archway, for what he doesn’t say. The others watch him uncomfortably, the moment seems to go on forever. He finally turns around, unsatisfied.

“This place is… deep. We may be down here for… for a while.” Time’s voice lacks all confidence. He sounds tired and pained.

His tone doesn’t help the mild panic among the group. 

“What do you mean?” Wind squeaks. He finds himself clutching Warriors’s scarf with white-knuckled fists. The captain allows it, a harsh swallow the only indication of his own unease. 

“Great, more time to be soaked,” Legend complains. He sounds exhausted.

“Which way should we go?” Four asks.

“We could split up,” says Warriors, “then regroup back here—”

_“No.”_ Time cuts him off. “We are staying together. It’s too risky.”

“It’s a sewer, old man, what could possibly be down here?”

“Don’t start.”

Warriors doesn’t push any further. 

“How about to the right?” says Wild, already stepping through the archway. The others nod and follow along, Time slowly trailing behind. Twilight shoots him a look of concern, but he waves it off. 

They walk for a little while longer, the tension as thick as the darkness pressing down on them. Wild leads with the torch as their singular beacon. The hall opens up into a wider reservoir. The floor is still damp, but it feels more like dirt. Wild waves the torch around to get a feel for the room.

Something immediately feels wrong. A harsh chill runs down their spines.

There’s a low, horrible, groaning.

It bounces off the walls, filling the heroes’ sensitive ears. Time tenses up even further. 

“What’s that noise?” Sky asks, quietly. Time shushes him immediately. Four pushes past the group and explores with Wild, not seeing Time desperately trying to coax them back. 

A scream shatters the darkness.

Like a trigger, more screams echo through the dark. They bounce off the walls, the wide room amplifying the horrible sound. Hyrule winces and covers his ears. Legend draws his sword. Four—

Wild yells and unsheathes his sword, but a large skeletal hand tears through the abyss. It grabs hold of Four and pulls him in before the others can do anything. He screeches, adding to the noise. 

With that, the others spring to action, blindly charging into the darkness. The sounds of battle rival the screaming. Wind looks at Time, mutual horror on their faces. He nods at the old man knowingly.

“REDEADS! Don’t let them grab you!” Wind yells, before drawing his sword and charging into the fray as well. 

“You _idiots!”_ Time yells. He reaches for the Ocarina of Time, but a bony hand interrupts him. Before he can grab his sword, the creature is on top of him, knocking him over. Time’s face hits the dirt, and the ocarina is sent flying just out of reach. Time grunts as the Redead tries to scrape at his armor. He tries to knock it off but his arm is pinned, and the panic is setting in. 

Wild’s flameblade cuts through the dark. He takes a swing, and the sound of flesh cauterizing adds to the din. He takes another swing, and a Redead falls at his feet. He yelps in alarm, kicking the creature back into the dark. 

Another hand reaches to grab Wild, but a beam of hot energy whizzes past him. It’s Hyrule, pointing his sword at the monster. Sky joins in, swinging at the Redead from behind. It too, falls to the ground.

There’s another scream, but this time it’s Wind. He wails in pain as a Redead bites at his shoulder. Twilight locates the creature and rushes it. He shoves it off of Wind and runs it through with his sword, stomping on its skull for good measure. Wind falls to his knees, gasping for breath. 

Time struggles with the Redead still on his back. It nearly sinks its teeth into the back of his neck before it emanates a loud groan. The monster is pulled off him, and a flash of steel tells him it was stabbed. Time looks up—Warriors. 

He has the creature by the neck. Warriors gives it another stab to the stomach before tossing it to the ground in disgust. “You alright?” he asks, extending a hand.

“Fine,” says Time. He’s not. He grabs Warriors’s hand and rises to his feet. “I need the ocarina, where is it?”

“Hell if I know, I’ve been trying not to die.” 

“This is _serious,_ Captain, I need it!” Time begins searching the ground. “Get Wild over here, go help the others.” 

Warriors nods and shouts above the clamor of battle, “Wild! Help Time find his ocarina! I’ll get the rest of these bastards.” 

The glow of the flameblade appears from the shadows, followed by Wild himself. He trades places with the Captain, who rejoins the fight. 

Legend finds Four, who’s curled up in a ball with a Redead scraping at him with its scrawny fingers. He doesn’t want to risk stabbing the monster and hurting Four, so he kicks it. The Redead screeches and grabs Legend’s leg, causing him to trip. It’s on top of him in seconds, showing its rotten teeth through its hollow mask. Legend cries for help, but Four is frozen in fear. He tries to headbutt the monster but his forehead bounces harmlessly off of its mask. It screams again, and tries to bite. 

Time and Wild desperately search the dirt. Wild finds the ocarina eventually, gripping his hand around the smooth ceramic. “Found it!” He calls, before tossing it to Time. He shakily brings the instrument up to his mouth, he blows into it once before hesitating. Time thinks for a moment, then blows into it again.

The melody is panicked and disjunct, but the Sun song is unmistakable.

The Redeads suddenly freeze to a halt, a faint white light emanates from them.

“Now!” Time shouts. 

The heroes waste no time dispatching the creatures. Within seconds, they’re all on the floor, dead. 

For a moment, there’s silence. The heroes slowly regroup in the center of the room. Wild relights his torch, waving it to show the faces of each Link. “E-everyone alright?” he asks.

He’s answered with panicked sobbing from Wind. Sky kneels down and pulls him into a hug. Wind hugs him back, his sobbing muffled but no less miserable. 

“What on Hylia’s green earth were _those?”_ Hyrule asks, shakily.

“Redeads,” says Time, “lurkers in the dark, they love old ruins like these.”

“I fucking _hate_ them!” cries Wind. “I hate them I hate them _I hate them!”_ Sky runs his fingers through the sailor’s hair. 

“There better not be more of those ugly things,” says Legend.

“There very well could be,” Time replies; it’s met with another sob from Wind. 

“W-what was that… that song you played? They just… froze,” Wild asks. 

“The Sun song, a melody I learned during my travels. Stops those things in their tracks, but only for a short while. It’s a good thing there were so many of us here to dispatch them quickly.” 

Hyrule shudders. Four remains still and pale. There’s an awkward silence.

“Well, they shouldn’t be too bad now that we know their tells,” says Warriors. “We just need the old man to play the Sun song whenever we hear them.”

A few hum in agreement. 

“Then let’s get the hell out of here.”

Wild checks the walls for a door. He finds one, wooden and rotted. He kicks it open, revealing another hallway.

They were going to be down here a while. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
